Tuesday, June 29, 2010

I have had a horrible day so far. Greg and I started out walking the beach counting how many song birds we saw. None. And my Honda flipped on top of me in the sand and i hurt my hip. then we went to look at kittiwake nests and I hurt my knee and ankle climbing the rocks, then my Honda wouldn't start, so we had to manually start it, then when we were sitting on High Bluffs, I got really really nauseous so I headed back early, then I just about knocked myself out by hitting a rut really hard and slamming my helmet into the handlebars, then I got stuck and had to pull myself out cause I was alone, then I threw up at southwest point, and now I'm going to bed.More later, maybe...Peace out.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Lusta is made by putting the fresh seal flipper in a garbage bag and hanging it somewhere (like the garage) until it starts to rot. Then you put it in a bucket and between every layer of flipper, you put a layer of salt. Then you let it sit or 4-5 months. And then it's done! Yum!

Sunday, June 27, 2010

"You're having fermented seal flipper for lunch at Kooka's today," is what I heard when I came downstairs this morning. (Kooka is Aleut for Grandmother. Yaya is Aleut for Uncle.) I thought that Mrs. Kushin was teasing at first but she just kind of looked at me and nodded, so John, Ashley, Henry, and I walked up to Kooka's house to eat Lusta (fermented, salted seal flippers). It was surprisingly good. John warned me that it would smell really bad when we went inside, but it just smelled like a lot of salt. And let me tell you, it was the saltiest thing I have ever eaten!! (except for maybe Mom's cream dried beef!!) I also had some seal meat. That was realllyyy good. It tasted like chicken, except richer, and it was almost black. I also tried a piece of Yaya Old Man's seal heart. That was better than I expected it to be. I was really surprised that I liked it. More laterPeace out

Saturday, June 26, 2010

I was supposed to go out monitoring again today with Greg. Instead, when I got to Staff Quarters, I had a flat tire. We filled it up with the air compressor, but it was leaking to badly to go out to Zaponi with Greg. I came home, and John went out to look at it. We went to the store and got a patch kit, and then went to the junk yard behind the airport to see if we could find and tires. We found one, but it wasn't the same tread pattern as the one that was already on the Honda (That means 4 wheeler, no matter what make or model it is). So we just patched the tire. Then after that we changed the oil, and it just kind of started escalating from there, because next thing I know, we were changing out the front fender. We had to take apart most of the Honda and I got really dirty. My hands had oil and dirt all over them, my jeans are filthy, and I had a lot of fun!!! I feel so accomplished!

Friday, June 25, 2010

You never realize how much you like bologna sandwiches until you're sitting on the side of a cliff in your winter gear and freezing to death.

Today I went out with the scientists for the first time. For the first 5 hours, Greg and I sat at the edge of different cliffs with our binoculars and waited for birds to move. We were seeing which birds had eggs and how many were in their nests. After that, we met up with Matt and went out to Zaponi Point to collect Thick Billed Murre eggs. I got to put on the harness and hang over the edge of the cliff to get the eggs. We got the eggs with a 16 foot pole with an old can from some refried beans attached to the end. It took a while to get the hang of getting the eggs into the can without pushing them out of reach or over the edge. I got either 2 or 3 eggs, and we got 15 in total. It was a TON of fun and I had a great time. (Greg also taught me the scientific names of some plants and birds and then quizzed me on the way back down Zaponi. I did alright if I do say so myself!)

I left at 9:15 am and got home about 6:30 pm. It was a long day, but it was a lot of fun. Hopefully I'll get to go back out sometime soon.

After I got home, I went and hung out with some of the kids on the island. We were running about the house and I went to jump over a pile of ropes, but I missed and tripped and landed on my face. Literally. I still have sand in my mouth.I'm ohkay though. Didn't even break any skin. Just came home at about 11:50 pm or so because the sun has gone down, the fog is out, and it is COLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

I got my luggage today!!! It came on a freight plane this evening at around 9 I think. That means that I have all of my gear now, so I'm going out with Greg and John from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tomorrow morning. I'm really excited. The only bad thing is the weather here. It is SOO cold. It's the kind of cold that gets down to your bones and takes forever to warm up.

I also got a 4 wheeler today, and drove with Henry, Ashley, and Jon Jon around town a bit. I think we actually went all the way around town. And I still have a full tank of gas! Haha.

I have to get up at the butt-crack off dawn tomorrow morning, but I'll blog a lot more about what I'm doing tomorrow.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Today I arrived in St. Paul at about between 5:45 and 6:00 pm. We stopped in Dillingham and St. George Island on the way. I brought 50 pounds of meat as one of my bags, and all of my gear and clothes in my other checked bag. Only the meat made it, so we’re going to see if my bag makes it tomorrow. I also brought blueberries, strawberries, tomatoes, kiwis, and grapes. The blueberries are one that I picked last week in Virginia while visiting my grandparents. I was really nervous about coming out to the island because it was my first time traveling alone, but I’m here, and I’m alive. So everything was okay except that my flight was delayed for about an hour. When we finally got on the plane, 3 people decided to get off so they had to redo all of the weight balancing and paperwork. We ended up waiting about another half hour. When I got here, we got the meat that I brought for the Kushins (the people that I’m staying with) and then came to the house for dinner. After dinner, Mrs. Kushin, Henry (son), Ashley (daughter) and Destiny (niece) went out to the cliffs to look at the seals and birds. It was a lot of fun to see the different birds and I can almost tell them all apart, but I’m still learning the differences between all of them.I’m still really excited about getting to have this experience. I am extremely lucky that so many people have helped to make this trip possibly for me, and I will be eternally grateful.

Today I arrived in St. Paul at about between 5:45 and 6:00 pm. We stopped in Dillingham and St. George Island on the way. I brought 50 pounds of meat as one of my bags, and all of my gear and clothes in my other checked bag. Only the meat made it, so we’re going to see if my bag makes it tomorrow. I also brought blueberries, strawberries, tomatoes, kiwis, and grapes. The blueberries are one that I picked last week in Virginia while visiting my grandparents. I was really nervous about coming out to the island because it was my first time traveling alone, but I’m here, and I’m alive. So everything was okay except that my flight was delayed for about an hour. When we finally got on the plane, 3 people decided to get off so they had to redo all of the weight balancing and paperwork. We ended up waiting about another half hour. When I got here, we got the meat that I brought for the Kushins (the people that I’m staying with) and then came to the house for dinner. After dinner, Mrs. Kushin, Henry (son), Ashley (daughter) and Destiny (niece) went out to the cliffs to look at the seals and birds. It was a lot of fun to see the different birds and I can almost tell them all apart, but I’m still learning the differences between all of them.I’m still really excited about getting to have this experience. I am extremely lucky that so many people have helped to make this trip possibly for me, and I will be eternally grateful.